Best Embedded GUI Design Software

Compare the Top Embedded GUI Design Software as of April 2025

What is Embedded GUI Design Software?

Embedded GUI design software is an application used to create user interfaces for embedded systems. It allows users to develop simple user interfaces for a range of tasks, from basic forms and menus to more complex graphics. The software typically consists of a library of GUI components, such as buttons, check boxes, radio boxes, sliders, and other custom controls. Additionally, it includes the ability to set up event handlers that will respond to events triggered by the user’s interaction with the interface. Compare and read user reviews of the best Embedded GUI Design software currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    EEZ Studio

    EEZ Studio

    Envox d.o.o.

    EEZ Studio represents a unique solution when both rapid development of an attractive GUI and remote control of devices for test and measurement (T&M) automation is required. Created by a team with first-hand experience in designing resource-constrained complex embedded devices, EEZ Studio enables the design of responsive desktops and embedded GUIs using the “drag & drop” and flowcharting (EEZ Flow) visual programming. A series of in-house developed Widgets and Actions as well as LVGL support and read-to-go project templates and examples enable rapid prototyping as well as development of final applications. The EEZ Studio contains everything you need to quickly create, test and debug attractive and responsive GUIs, regardless of the level of complexity, and can meet even the most complex requirements. Depending on the type of application, several types of projects are offered in order to simplify development and successfully address the challenges of the chosen target platform.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 2
    Storyboard

    Storyboard

    Crank AMETEK

    Storyboard is an embedded GUI development framework that accelerates the design and delivery of modern UX for tomorrow’s IoT and wearable devices. With its Rapid Design Import and Iteration Technology, embedded developers around the world are able to create products that offer unmatched GUI experiences (graphics, voice, and audio), uniquely optimized for all operating systems and platforms, including resource-constrained MCU and MPU platforms. Storyboard aligns embedded developers with the iterative change processes of designers — using popular tools like Sketch and Photoshop — helping manufacturers achieve high-quality UX without sacrificing performance or development time. With only a few mouse clicks, developers use Storyboard to visualize changed assets and rapidly assess, accept, or reject elements in a timesaving manner. This accelerated workflow allows teams to refine their products at any stage in their development cycle.
  • 3
    Qt

    Qt

    Qt Group

    Software requirements are increasing exponentially, but your team's capacity is not! Qt 6's tools & APIs empower designers and developers to create more! Build consistently branded 2D & 3D applications with a custom or native look & feel, using designer and developer-friendly tools, a leaner, yet more powerful QML language, and a flexible graphics architecture. From microcontrollers (MCUs) to supercomputers, Qt 6 and our massive ecosystem provide everything you need to design, develop, and deploy software for your entire product line. Create applications that are beautiful in the front end and powerful in the back end, with the same codebase for any hardware, any OS, or bare metal. Qt Group is a global software company with a strong presence in more than 70 industries and is the leading independent technology behind 1+ billion devices and applications. Qt is used by major global companies and developers worldwide.
    Starting Price: $302 per month
  • 4
    Sciter

    Sciter

    Sciter

    Sciter brings a stack of web technologies to desktop UI development. Web designers, and developers, can reuse their experience and expertise in creating modern-looking desktop applications. Various GUI frameworks offer different UI declaration and styling languages, such as QML and XAML (Microsoft WPF). On the contrary, Sciter allows the use of time-proven, robust, and flexible HTML and CSS for GUI definition and GPU-accelerated rendering. In almost 10 years, the Sciter UI engine has become the secret weapon of success for some of the most prominent antivirus products on the market, Norton Antivirus and Internet Security, Comodo Internet Security, ESET Antivirus, BitDefender Antivirus, and others. The use of HTML/CSS has allowed their UI to stay in touch with modern GUI trends throughout all these years and will continue to well into the future. Sciter Engine is a single, compact DLL of 5+ Mb in size.
    Starting Price: $310 one-time payment
  • 5
    GUIslice

    GUIslice

    GUIslice

    GUIslice is a very lightweight platform-independent GUI designed for embedded displays, from an 8-bit Arduino with 2KB RAM to the Raspberry Pi. The library supports creation of multiple pages of buttons, text, images, checkboxes, sliders and other graphics primitives. New UI / widget types can be created easily. The core GUIslice library is written in pure C. GUIslice is intended to be used with Raspberry Pi and all Arduino adaptations (ATmega, STM32duino, ESP8266 / NodeMCU, ESP32, Adafruit Feather M0, nRF52, etc.). In addition to RPI, GUIslice works in other LINUX-based platforms including BeagleBone Black and Virtual Machines (VM). The LINUX operation supports framebuffer-based displays without X-windows / X11. Touchscreen controls are supported (both resistive and capacitive), but it is also possible to run on non-touch displays. Keyboard / GPIO / button navigation of the GUI is also available.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 6
    LVGL

    LVGL

    LVGL

    LVGL is the most popular free and open source embedded graphics library to create beautiful UIs for any MCU, MPU, and display type. Use SquareLine Studio, our drag-and-drop UI editor, to simplify the development. 30+ built-in widgets, 100+ style properties, web-inspired layout managers, and a typography system supporting many languages. LVGL is fully open source and has no external dependencies which makes its porting incredibly simple. It works with any modern MCU or MPU and can be used with any (RT)OS or bare metal setup to drive ePaper, monochrome, OLED, or TFT displays, and even monitors. Besides, it's free even for commercial projects. SquareLine Studio is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop UI editor tool for LVGL where even designers can create fully functional UIs. Just like LVGL, SquareLine Studio is also fully vendor-agnostic. We have a great network of people and companies who can help you design and develop your UIs, implement drivers, or the whole application.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 7
    SquareLine Studio

    SquareLine Studio

    SquareLine Studio

    Next-generation UI editor for individuals and professionals to design and develop beautiful UIs for your embedded devices quickly and easily. Exports platform-independent C or MicroPython code for LVGL which can be compiled for any vendor's device. Just click the play button to try out the UI instantly without rebuilding it in a pixel-perfect preview. Create custom components from the built-in widgets using styles, animations, and events. SquareLine Studio exports plain C or MicroPython code so you can use it on any platform. IoT, smart home and home automation, wearable instruments, automotive, medical devices, and many more. Even for 4K displays in kiosk devices or multi-platform desktop applications. Unlike in other prototyping tools, in SquareLine Studio you can build the UI from fully functional components. SquareLine Studio offers flexible licenses for all use cases, including personal use, startups, and large companies as well.
    Starting Price: $16 per month
  • 8
    GEMstudio Pro

    GEMstudio Pro

    Amulet Technologies

    Try a free download of GEMstudio Pro, the easiest, fastest, and most flexible graphical user interface software design tool in the embedded space. Our GUI software enables anyone to easily design, customize, test, and implement a high-end user interface into every kind of embedded product. GEMstudio Pro is a true WYSIWYG GUI programming environment that offers different levels of complexity. Our software targets the novice user, which means you don’t need a programming background to use it. With GEMstudio Pro, anyone, with any background, can create smartphone-like GUIs. This allows for your business to create many design iterations, as well as closer collaboration between marketing and engineering teams. Our software makes it easy for engineers are able to build a bespoke GUI without needing any artistic background. Above all, all of this happens in days, instead of months. As a result, your product ends up with the best user experience possible.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 9
    µGUI

    µGUI

    µGUI

    µGUI is a free and open-source graphic library for embedded systems. It is platform-independent and can be easily ported to almost any microcontroller system. As long as the display is capable of showing graphics, µGUI is not restricted to a certain display technology. Therefore, display technologies such as LCD, TFT, E-Paper, LED or OLED are supported. μGUI is platform-independent, so there is no need to use a certain embedded system. In order to use μGUI, only two requirements are necessary.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 10
    Altia Design
    Altia Design — our GUI editor — offers the power to turn your artists’ artwork into completely custom user interfaces. Your artists work in any tool they choose – Photoshop to Illustrator to Maya and beyond. Altia Design turns those gorgeous graphics into functional prototypes for testing and prepares them for the deployable code you need for your production program. Build high performance, professional-looking GUIs without hand coding graphics. Share runtime model before code generation for quick validation and UX testing. Implement feedback with fast iterations to improve user experience. Connect application code or simulations for a complete, fully integrated GUI model. Prepare user interface for DeepScreen’s powerful code generation. Impressive library of GUI components, materials and more. Use Validator to fix critical errors in GUI design.
  • 11
    TotalCross

    TotalCross

    TotalCross

    Less than 5MB of footprint, ensuring high performance even when running in low-end devices. Basic knowledge of Java or Kotlin lets you build performing Apps for Android, Linux Arm, Windows, and iOS. Code once and run on every platform. Responsive User Interfaces provide the same behavior and usability. Tecdet develops systems for traffic control and inspection for the Brazilian government. They decided to rebuild their system for the Linux Arm architecture compatible with Toradex modules and chose TotalCross to develop their GUI.
  • 12
    Guiliani

    Guiliani

    Guiliani

    It combines the comfort of a PC-based development toolchain with the benefits of a highly-optimized software framework, specifically designed for the use on resource-limited embedded hardware. In addition to the modern C++ architecture of the framework, the software engineer is supported by the Guilani Streaming Editor (GSE). The GSE allows you to easily create, modify, or add functionality to elements of the GUI without the need for direct changes in the code. Another advantage of the GSE is the easy management of resources such as images, texts, and sounds, among others.
  • 13
    GUI Guider
    GUI Guider is a user-friendly graphical user interface development tool from NXP that enables the rapid development of high-quality displays with the open source LVGL graphics library. GUI Guider's drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to utilize the many features of LVGL such as widgets, animations, and styles to create a GUI with minimal or no coding at all. With the click of a button, you can run your application in a simulated environment or export it to a target project. Generated code from GUI Guider can easily be added to an MCUXpresso IDE or IAR embedded workbench project, accelerating the development process and allowing you to seamlessly add an embedded user interface to your application. GUI Guider is free to use with NXP’s general purpose and crossover MCUs and includes built-in project templates for several supported platforms. Utilize and search through LVGL’s wide selection of widgets to create GUI applications with ease.
  • 14
    STM32

    STM32

    STMicroelectronics

    STM32 GUI hardware portfolio is the industry’s broadest portfolio of advanced graphics-enabled MCUs and MPUs. State-of-the-art graphical development tools available for free with TouchGFX and STemWIN Reference designs, selected GUI software, and design partners. Support, online community, and documentation to help you find answers to your questions. The design trends in embedded HMI (Human-Machine Interface) are continuously evolving. With products getting smarter and offering an increasing number of features, end users expect HMIs to provide an engaging experience and easy access to product features. Including a GUI in your products will allow you to design a more user-friendly, safe, and modern device, offering end users more value. The key design requirements of GUIs are shaped by the one device we all interact with every day, the smartphone in our pockets. The STM32 family provides the tools required to easily add smartphone-like GUIs in embedded devices.
  • 15
    MicroEJ

    MicroEJ

    MicroEJ

    An embedded GUI (Graphical User Interface) is a software interface that is designed for use on an embedded system, such as a microcontroller or a single-board computer. Embedded GUIs provide a graphical interface for interacting with the system and enable users to control and monitor the system through visual elements such as icons, buttons, sliders, and text fields. MicroEJ embedded GUI solution provides your customers with a beautiful look and feel and high performance, on markets such as wearables, home appliances, smart homes, medical, smart printers, and more generally speaking any kind of small electronic products. Take advantage of impeccable, ultra-fast execution embedded GUIs that will guarantee your customers a great user experience. Adding to the benefits of stunning graphics, rich animations, and interactions, MicroEJ’s portability across different electronics allows you to leverage your design investment by re-using the same graphical widgets for all your products.
  • 16
    µGFX

    µGFX

    uGFX

    µGFX is a lightweight embedded library for displays and touchscreens providing everything required to build a fully featured embedded GUI. The library is very small and fast because every unused feature is disabled and not linked into the finished binary. The µGFX library has been designed to be the smallest, fastest and most advanced embedded library for display and touchscreen solutions. The µGFX library works on any processor architecture. No matter whether it's a small 16-bit microcontroller or a huge 64-bit multi-core ARM CPU. The µGFX library runs on any system. It can be used with or without an underlying operating system. An easy-to-use, yet highly flexible abstraction layer allows to run the µGFX library on virtually any platform. The abstraction layer has been designed to have as little performance impact as possible.
  • 17
    Embedded Wizard

    Embedded Wizard

    TARA Systems GmbH

    Embedded Wizard is an award-winning solution for creating Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for embedded systems from independent software company TARA Systems. The mission of the Embedded Wizard team is to provide developers with the most convenient and efficient tool for programming GUIs for embedded systems. Developers use this versatile framework to design and create complex user interfaces in a very short time and are able to stand out from their competitors due to the numerous highly sophisticated features. GUIs created with Embedded Wizard are already used on more than 500 million devices worldwide. Companies that actively develop embedded software themselves or have limited resources are offered a portfolio of services by the companies’ GUI services. These cover customer support, Embedded Wizard training sessions, and GUI prototyping up to complete GUI implementations.
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Embedded GUI Design Software Guide

Embedded GUI design software is used to create user interfaces for embedded systems, such as consumer electronics, robotics, and medical devices. This type of software helps developers create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for embedded systems more quickly and efficiently than coding them from scratch. By using an embedded GUI design software package, developers can build GUIs that are tailored to the specific requirements of their particular product or system.

The elements that make up a GUI include visual components such as text boxes, buttons, and menus as well as functional elements such as key bindings and event handlers. With an embedded GUI design software package, developers can construct these elements quickly and easily with minimal programming knowledge or experience. Many packages also offer tools that allow designers to customize the look-and-feel of their GUI with custom graphics, colors, fonts, and animations.

In addition to building basic GUIs from scratch, most embedded GUI design software packages provide ready-made templates that allow users to get started quickly on their projects. These templates typically contain preset components and layouts which can be customized to suit the needs of the project at hand. Furthermore, some designs may even feature pre-programmed functionality to further speed up the development process.

Aside from providing a means of constructing GUIs quickly and easily without extensive coding knowledge or experience, many embedded GUI design software packages come equipped with debugging tools that enable developers to find issues in their code early on in the process. Furthermore, since many products are required by law or industry standards to adhere to certain usability guidelines when it comes to user interface design, these same packages may also provide options for confirming compliance with specified regulations. Last but not least, these tools often have support for multiple platforms so end users can access your application regardless of device type or operating system used.

Features Offered by Embedded GUI Design Software

  • Drag and Drop Interface: Most embedded GUI design software comes with a drag and drop interface that makes it easy to create complex user interfaces quickly and efficiently. This feature allows users to easily arrange elements such as text, graphics, images, and buttons with minimal effort.
  • Multi-Platform Support: Embedded GUI design software typically supports multiple operating systems for efficient implementation of the GUI across multiple platforms.
  • Theme Creation: This feature enables users to customize the look of their UI by creating unique themes for their application. Themes can be applied across devices with different resolutions and sizes, allowing greater flexibility in visual design.
  • Animation Features: Animation features allow users to add transitions or special effects to their UI components in order to create a more engaging user experience.
  • Visual Design Tools: Embedded GUI design software provides easy-to-use visual tools for designing the layout of the user interface. These tools enable users to intuitively adjust properties like color palette, fonts, icons, etc., without requiring any knowledge of programming language.
  • Interactive Element Support: Most embedded GUI design software offers support for interactive elements such as menus, sliders, tabs, and other controls. With these controls it’s possible to create complex navigation options for applications that require more than just basic button pressing.
  • Responsive Design: Embedded GUI design software can help developers create responsive designs that automatically adjust based on the resolution of the device they’re running on in order to provide an optimal experience regardless of screen size or aspect ratio.
  • Preview Features: This feature allows users to preview their designs in real-time, helping them identify problems and make adjustments quickly and easily.

Types of Embedded GUI Design Software

  • WYSIWYG editors: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are visual, drag and drop tools that allow you to design a GUI for your embedded system directly. This type of software eliminates the need for manual coding, and instead focuses on the look-and-feel of the UI.
  • Libraries: Embedded GUI design software libraries provide tools such as advanced animation engines, widgets and controls that can be used to create custom GUIs for embedded systems. These libraries often come with pre-built components that can be used to quickly develop a GUI without any code.
  • Cross-platform development frameworks: Cross-platform development frameworks allow you to develop applications on one platform and then port it over to another platform easily. These frameworks can also provide useful tools such as simulation environments which make testing and debugging easier.
  • Design templates: Design templates offer a great way for novice users to get started with creating an embedded system’s user interface quickly by using pre-defined layout elements, fonts, colors, etc., that are already optimized for their target device or platform.
  • Code generators: Code generators are automated tools that create code from graphical inputs based on predefined rules. This type of software allows users to easily generate source codes from GUI designs without having to manually write the code themselves.
  • Visual scripting tools: Visual scripting tools allow users to quickly create GUI designs without any coding or programming knowledge. These tools provide a visual environment for creating applications by connecting different elements and components together.
  • Embedded software development tools: Embedded software development tools are programs used to create and develop applications for embedded systems. These tools provide users with the ability to create, debug, and test applications that will run on an embedded system.

Advantages Provided by Embedded GUI Design Software

  • Reduced Development Time: Embedded GUI design software allows developers to quickly and easily create user-friendly graphical user interfaces (GUIs). This eliminates the need for developers to manually code their own GUI solutions, significantly reducing development time.
  • Visualization: Embedded GUI design software provides developers with an intuitive way of visualizing their applications and projects, allowing them to make changes in real-time and quickly debug any issues.
  • Accessibility: Embedded GUI design software is accessible on a variety of platforms and devices, meaning that developers can work from anywhere at any time. This makes it easier for teams to collaborate effectively.
  • Scalability: Embedded GUI design software can be scaled up or down as needed, allowing developers to customize designs without having to start from scratch each time they wish to make adjustments.
  • Efficiency: By streamlining the development process, embedded GUI design software helps developers save time while still delivering high quality results. In addition, embedded GUI design software also supports efficient deployment by allowing users to compile finished GUIs into single executable files that require no installation and run on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms.
  • Customization: Embedded GUI design software enables developers to create custom GUIs tailored to their specific needs. This allows for the creation of visually appealing and highly functional interfaces that have been designed with the user in mind.
  • Simplicity: Embedded GUI design software is designed to be highly user-friendly and intuitive, meaning that even those with minimal development experience can quickly learn how to create effective GUIs.

Who Uses Embedded GUI Design Software?

  • Graphic Designers: Professionals who create visuals for print, web or mobile designs, such as logos and illustrations.
  • UI/UX Designers: Specialists who use visual design principles to create the user interface of a product. They focus on how the product looks, feels and behaves.
  • Animators: Artists that bring motion into still images or video.
  • Game Developers: Creators of video games who use embedded GUI design software to build interactive graphical elements in their projects.
  • Web Designers: Craftsmen that work on websites, designing layouts and graphics that are compatible with major web browsers.
  • Engineers: Professionals in the STEM field who utilize embedded GUI design software to build functional graphical interfaces for machines and devices.
  • Scientists: Researchers in various fields (e.g., astrophysics, nanotechnology) that need custom-made graphical user interfaces for their experiments and projects.
  • Business Professionals: Individuals working in different departments (e.g., customer service, marketing) that require effective visual displays of data points within company reports or presentations.
  • Educators: Teachers and professors that need interactive visuals to explain complex concepts in their lessons or lectures.
  • Hobbyists: Individuals who enjoy tinkering with graphical elements out of personal interest.

How Much Does Embedded GUI Design Software Cost?

The cost of embedded GUI design software will vary depending on the particular software, features, and the type of licensing you choose. Generally speaking, most embedded GUI design software packages start at around $500 for a single user license. This typically includes basic editing features such as drag-and-drop components and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) display capabilities. If you need additional advanced features like support for third-party tools or integrations with external systems, then the cost can increase dramatically. For example, industrial automation solutions often require high-end features that could add anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 more to the cost of the software package. Additionally, some vendors may also offer subscription plans that include extended technical support and regular updates which will add to the total cost. In summary, there is no one answer regarding how much embedded GUI design software costs since it largely depends on individual needs and requirements.

Types of Software That Embedded GUI Design Software Integrates With

Embedded GUI design software can integrate with a variety of types of software. This includes microcontroller development tools, such as UI design, compilers, component libraries, debuggers, system simulators, code libraries and other middleware, and communication protocols like CAN/CANopen or USB. Additionally, it may be integrated with operating systems that support interfaces or have drivers for the hardware being used. Embedded GUI design software also has the ability to be hooked up to databases like Oracle or MS-SQL to store data generated from the user interface. Lastly, integration with programming languages such as C++, Java, JavaScript and Python is possible in order to create more advanced applications.

Trends Related to Embedded GUI Design Software

  • Developing platforms optimized for embedded graphical user interface design have become increasingly popular, allowing designers to quickly create visually-rich and interactive user experiences.
  • Graphical tools such as Qt and Embedded Wizard are widely used, allowing developers to rapidly configure the GUI display elements in a code-free environment.
  • Advanced scripting languages, such as Tcl/Tk, allow developers to extend their original application capabilities and create more complex interfaces that can be tailored to meet specific customer requirements.
  • Frameworks like web UI kits and libraries of ready-made components have also made it easier for embedded GUI designers to incorporate sophisticated features into their applications without having to spend time developing them from scratch.
  • Embedded operating systems (OSes) such as Linux and Windows CE are being leveraged by embedded software vendors more frequently due to their enhanced functionality offering support for multiple threads, network connectivity, multimedia playback, etc., making them ideal for creating modern GUIs with robust feature sets.
  • New technologies like HTML5 enable developers to quickly prototyping web-based GUIs without any coding required while providing support for all types of devices – from traditional computers and smartphones to wearables.
  • AI-powered visual recognition technology is enabling developers to implement cutting edge features such as facial recognition and gesture control into their designs with ease.
  • With the availability of high-resolution displays, embedded GUI designs are now able to make the best use of available colors and pixel resolution while providing a smoother user experience.
  • The increasing popularity of cloud-based application development means that designers can now create sophisticated GUIs for their applications without having to worry about hardware limitations.
  • Low-power embedded systems have opened up new possibilities for embedded GUI designers, allowing them to create highly efficient applications that consume minimal energy.
  • Open source software such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino are becoming more popular as they provide a low-cost way of creating powerful GUIs.
  • In the future, development tools and APIs that make it easy to integrate IoT (Internet of Things) capabilities into embedded GUI designs will become more widely available.

How To Find the Right Embedded GUI Design Software

  1. Identify your goals and requirements: Before selecting any software, you need to have a clear understanding of what you hope to achieve with the GUI design process. Do you need a rich user experience or just basic functionality? Are there specific hardware components in mind that require special support? Thinking about the answers to these questions can help narrow down the selection of potential tools.
  2. Consider your budget: After setting your goals and requirements for the project, consider closely how much money you are willing (and able) to spend on embedded GUI design software. This will also limit potential options significantly.
  3. Research available solutions: Once you have established a budget and set goals for your project, start researching different options available on the market today that meet those criteria. Look into reviews from other users and industry experts in order to get an idea of which tools might be right for your needs and within your price range.
  4. Weigh pros and cons: After doing some research, look at each option’s features in more detail and weigh the pros and cons against each other in terms of cost, functionality, user experience etc., to see which one is best suited for your particular application.
  5. Make sure it meets all criteria: Finally, make sure that any software you select meets all of the criteria outlined earlier—that it’s within budget, meets its functional requirements, has good reviews, etc., before making a purchase decision or downloading a trial version if available.

Make use of the comparison tools above to organize and sort all of the embedded GUI design software products available.